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Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, energy technology investment, green technological innovation, and environmental sustainability in the United States: Testing the EKC and LCC hypotheses with novel Fourier estimation

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Abstract   

The energy sector represents one of the key contributors to environmental degradation. In this context, actions taken within the energy sector are paramount in the global effort to combat climate change. This study aims to investigate the impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, energy technology investment, and green technological innovation on environmental sustainability in the context of EKC and LCC hypotheses in the USA from 1980 to 2015. While many studies in the literature focus on the EKC hypothesis, this study offers a comparative analysis of the EKC and LCC hypotheses with relevant variables. For this aim, the study uses the novel Fourier estimation methods. According to the results, the EKC and the LCC hypotheses are valid in the USA. Moreover, non-renewable energy consumption increases the ecological footprint. On the other hand, non-renewable energy consumption decreases the load capacity factor while renewable energy consumption increases it. Finally, energy technology investment and green technological innovation have an insignificant impact on the ecological footprint and the load capacity factor in both models. All results except energy technology investment and green technological innovation are consistent with our expectations. The USA has the potential to realize green growth. Policymakers should support the green technological innovation process and increase green investments.

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Data availability

The data is accessible from the corresponding author upon request.

Abbreviations

RD:

Research and development

ED:

Environmental degradation

EFF:

Efficiency

EEFF:

Energy efficiency

ERD:

Energy research and development

EG:

Economic growth

SB:

Social benefit

REN:

Renewable energy

NONREN:

Non-renewable energy

INO:

Innovation

EINO:

Energy innovation

TINO:

Technological innovation

GINO:

Green innovation

SDG:

Sustainable Development Goals

ETI:

Energy technology investment

GTI:

Green technological innovation

EQ:

Environmental quality

ES:

Environmental sustainability

EFP:

Ecological footprint

LCF:

Load capacity factor

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Banking and Financial Management, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Nicholas Apergis

  2. Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Public Finance, Sakarya University, Esentepe Campus, Serdivan/Sakarya, Turkey

    Tunahan Degirmenci

  3. Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Econometrics, Sakarya University, Esentepe Campus, Serdivan/Sakarya, Turkey

    Mucahit Aydin

  4. Research Methods Application Center of UNEC, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku, AZ1001, Azerbaijan

    Mucahit Aydin

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  1. Nicholas Apergis
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  2. Tunahan Degirmenci
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  3. Mucahit Aydin
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Contributions

Nicholas Apergis: conceptualization, writing—review and editing. Tunahan Degirmenci: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, and data editing. Mucahit Aydin: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, methodology, software, and formal analysis.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Literature Summary

Table

Table 6 Literature summary for ETI and ED Nexus
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Table

Table 7 Literature Summary for GTI and ED Nexus
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Appendix 2

Supplementary Figures

Figure 

Fig. 8
figure 8

Graphical Representation of the Variables

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Fig. 9
figure 9

CUSUM and CUSUMSQ Test Results

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Apergis, N., Degirmenci, T. & Aydin, M. Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, energy technology investment, green technological innovation, and environmental sustainability in the United States: Testing the EKC and LCC hypotheses with novel Fourier estimation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 125570–125584 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30901-1

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